The Things We Give Up
by helenoftroyxo
Summary: After ridding the wizarding world of Voldemort, Harry and Ginny just want to live a normal life. However, this changes when they begin to realize their feeligns for each other after they're asked to go on a mission together.
1. Prologue

Harry pushed his hair out of face, feeling dried blood caked on his forehead, as he spun around to face the Death Eater he was dueling with. He forced all the anger and hate boiling in his blood into one corner of his mind, trying to concentrate on how he would get through this alive.

"Is wittle Potter getting scared?" Bellatrix Lestrange's voice called out from beneath her hood, mocking him, as she stood, leaning against a tree casually. Harry, Bellatrix, and the tree stood at the edge of the great plain that was home to what would go down in history as the greatest battle of their time.

"YOU KILLED SIRIUS!" Harry bellowed, letting his fury get the better of him. "I SWEAR, I'LL KILL YOU." He raised his wand, preparing to perform the Cruciatus curse on her; he didn't care if it didn't work, he would do anything at the moment to inflict some kind of pain on her - make her feel the same pain he was feeling...

"Come and get me, Potter," she screeched, laughing wildly. "Come avenge your godfather's death." With that, she muttered some spell and was gone.

Without thinking, Harry forced himself up off of the ground, wanting to run after her. "COWARD!" he yelled. He spun around when he felt a hand close around his arm. Looking down, he saw the pale, frightened face of Ginny Weasley staring up at him with tears in her eyes.

"No Harry," she whispered, "Don't do it. Don't let her bait you, she'll kill you too."

"I have to," he growled furiously, trying to wrench his arm out of her grip, "She killed Sirius. I'm not letting her get away with it."

Ginny's grip on his arm was too strong though, so he gave up trying to pull away and collapsed on the ground. The little hope that once remained slowly ebbed away as he looked around in the darkness and saw all the still, limp bodies lying on the ground. All these people - they were all innocent, but they had died for no reason. It was only the hate in the wizarding world that had arisen with Voldemort's return that had caused these deaths. Harry felt a little part of his heart collapse, the part that had once hoped for better days. The days when he would see sunshine and laughter again. He now knew they would never come.

He let his gaze fall on Ginny's face again. Her cheeks were streaked with dirt, blood, and tears. Her eyes had lost all the dancing light they had once held, and were now dull and filled with pain.

"Don't you understand, Harry?" she whispered, "Killing her will make no difference. Sirius is gone. We need to focus on what's important right now - killing Voldemort. All these people around us didn't give their lives just so you could go chasing the person who killed your godfather. They died to protect us, in hopes that we would save this world."

Harry knew she was right, and finally gave in. "Where's Ron?" he asked quietly.

Ginny suddenly looked frightened. "He's...he's..." she trailed off, staring at Harry with wide eyes, begging him to take the news calmly. He froze as understanding dawned over him.

"No..." he whispered, "No, it must be a mistake. Where is he? Take me to him, I won't let him die."

She shook her head. "I can't....he's gone. I don't know what happened to him, but Avery killed him then performed some curse that made him disappear completely." Tears streamed down her face, and her body shook with sobs. "He died trying to save his friends. In the end it didn't matter - Hermione ... Neville ... Luna ... they're all gone."

Harry felt his insides freeze up. He couldn't believe it. Everyone he had once loved, everyone except Ginny, they were all gone. "How can we go on?" he asked, his voice shaking. "

I don't know...but we have to. For everyone's sake."

Nodding, Harry stood up. The fury that was coursing through his body was unbelievably strong. Ginny was right, they had to keep going and never give up. He held out his hand so that she could use it to help herself up. The moment her fingers brushed his, a jolt of electricity traveled throughout his body. He jumped back in shock.

"What is it?" she asked, looking concerned.

"I-I-I...nothing," said Harry. He grabbed her hand again, and this time felt his whole body warm up as if some glow was traveling through his veins. He looked into Ginny's eyes and saw the same confusion in them. He sighed and took both her hands. "Whatever happens, I still love you Ginny."

The fact that the words actually came out of his mouth was nothing compared to what Harry did next. Leaning down, he brushed his lips gently across hers. Then, as if he had realized what he'd done, Harry backed away with a worried look in his eyes.

"It's ok," Ginny said, blushing slightly. If they had not been where they were at the moment, in the situation they were in, then she would have smiled. But Ginny Weasley had not smiled for 2 years, and was not going to start now.

Shaking his head, Harry ran off in the direction where he had just seen flashes of light and heard screams without another word.

"I love you too," Ginny called back. Her voice echoed in Harry's head and gave him a flicker of hope as he hurried towards the battle scene.

Harry arrived just in time to see the body of Minerva McGonagall fly into the air and land with a thump on the ground. He yelled in shock and whipped around to see Voldemort leaning against a tree, surrounded by 7 or 8 death eaters. The slits of red that were his eyes shone behind his hood and laughed at Harry silently.

"Why look who it is," he said mockingly.

His high, cold voice sent chills down Harry's back as he realized that he was alone. _This is it_, Harry thought as the death eaters surrounding him and his enemy laughed, _I'm going to die_. Another part of him awoke and began to scold him for giving up so easily, just like Mrs. Weasley would once have done. The thought of Mrs. Weasley suddenly gave him courage and he pulled out of his despair, raising his wand.

"Yeah it's me," he said quietly, waiting. When Voldemort did nothing, he laughed coldly. "What, you're too scared to fight me? Big, evil Voldemort ... too scared to fight little, innocent Harry Potter?" Harry knew that by saying this, he would make his enemy angry and that's what he wanted to do. Just like he'd thought, Voldemort's eyes flashed dangerously and he lowered his hood, revealing his flat, white face.

"If you insist that I kill you right now Potter, then I suppose I can't say no, can I?" The death eaters surrounding them laughed hysterically, then formed themselves into a circle, just like they had done on the night Harry witnessed Voldemort's return to his full body. Harry felt fear begin to creep into his mind, but he pushed it aside. He knew the Dark Lord could read minds, and the last thing he wanted at the moment was for Voldemort to know he was afraid.

"We bow," Voldemort said quietly, smiling.

Harry did so, keeping his eyes on his opponent at all times.

"On the count of three...one."

Harry held his wand vertically in front of his face, struggling to keep a calm expression on his face.

"...two..."

He raised his arm and pointed his wand towards Voldemort.

"...three."

There were flashes of light, a scream, and Harry felt himself being pulled down onto the ground. Looking to his side, he saw Ginny crouching on the ground beside him, holding the sleeve of his robes.

"What are you doing?" Harry hissed angrily, glad that the cloud of smoke that was slowly beginning to dissipate was hiding them. "I'm in the middle of an effing duel Ginny, you can't just interrupt something like this."

Ginny gazed at Harry. "I can't lose you too," she said quietly. With that, she pulled him off of the ground to face Voldemort again.

"What's this, Potter? You have a girlfriend?"

"She's not my " Harry was cut off by the laughter of the death eaters, that was rising up and filling up the clearing they stood in.

"Well, well," Voldemort murmured, raising an eyebrow, "We can't have the little wench disturbing our duel can we? Finish her off, Macnair."

A hooded death eater eagerly replied, "Yes master!" and stepped out from the circle. Turning his head to look at Voldemort, the two exchanged silent words before Macnair turned back to Harry and Ginny with a smile which was noticeable, even though his cloak hid most of his face in shadows.

"Avada Kedavra!"

"Protego!"

The two voices mingled as Macnair's spell rebounded off of Harry's shield and hit him squarely in the chest. For a minute, he simply stared at Harry in shock. Then, as if in slow motion, he stumbled and fell backwards, falling and laying still. A shockwave rippled across the ring of death eaters that stood in the clearing. Each of them seemed to be surprised that their fellow death eater was dead. Suddenly, a deathly still silence covered the clearing.

"So," Voldemort sneered, his voice shattering the stillness like a hammer upon glass, "Potter knows how to fight. I see I'm going to teach him what a real wizard's duel is about."

Then, without warning, he nodded to two death eaters behind Harry and Ginny. They grabbed the two Gryffindors and pinned their arms behind their backs, grabbing a hold of their wands. Using all the strength he could muster, Harry turned around to see who was holding him down. With a start, he realized the cold slate-gray eyes belonged to none other than Lucius Malfoy. Shaking in anger, he turned back to Voldemort.

"Now, how shall we finish him off?" Voldemort asked, more to himself than anyone. "Shall we torture him by hurting his little girlfriend first..." Ginny growled deep in her throat at this, "...or shall we just kill him straight off, and make him end up like his dear friends Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger?"

At these words, Harry felt a surge of white- hot hate he had never felt before in his life. It was so intense it nearly made him choke; he could feel it surging through his veins, it filled every bit of his body, it was his very soul....it cleared his head and told him to take this opportunity to kill Voldemort. Harry did as he was told, and stepped on Malfoy's foot forcefully. Lucius let out a strangled yell and released Harry, as well as his wand. Moving quickly, Harry grabbed his wand and stood up, panting and pointing his wand at Voldemort.

Voldemort had also dropped his wand in surprise, and when he saw Harry standing there with his wand raised and pointed at him, he hurried to pick it up. However, Harry was too quick.

Summoning 17 years of hatred, hurt, anger, and heartache, Harry forced it into his wand arm, ready to release it once he said the two words. Looking around, he thought, _If I can do this...this one simple spell...all this death and pain will be ended_. With this thought in mind, he forced all his feelings into his wand and at the same time, screamed the spell that would end all darkness and bring back the world of good.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The bright flash of green that resulted seemed to last forever in Harry's mind. He screwed his eyes up, trying to ignore the burning pain that had arisen in his scar. His eyes watered; the pain was so intense it felt like someone had cast the Cruciatus curse on him, but focused all the pain on just the lightening bolt shaped scar that ran down his forehead. A high pitched scream echoed in the clearing, again and again until Harry thought for sure he would die from the pain. He fell onto his knees and felt Ginny grab his hand. Then, all was still.

Forcing himself to look up, even though his eyes were blurred by tears of pain, Harry gasped at the sight. Voldemort lay still on the ground, obviously - but did he dare say it? Could he finally say for sure that Voldemort was dead? After all, the Dark Lord had survived an Avada Kedavra curse before, who was to say he wouldn't survive another?

However, the proof lay in the ring of death eaters that still surrounded Harry and Ginny. They were all lying on the ground, writhing in pain and moaning as if their lives depended on it. Each of them cradled their left arm and some of them were crying out, "Master! " as they rocked back and forth.

Knowledge dawned upon Harry instantly - the dark mark was burning, signaling that their master was gone. They were no longer bound to his service; they were all free.

Harry looked over at Ginny and saw that she had her face in her hands, and was sobbing freely.

"It's over Harry....it's over."


	2. Chapter 1

"Harry? Potter, wake up," a voice whispered in Harry's ear. He sat up with a start, half of him still stuck in the dream world.  
  
"Ginny?" he asked, his voice slurred with sleep, "Izzat you?"  
  
Rolling her eyes, she replied, "Of course it is, silly. Who did you think it was?"  
  
Harry sighed and sat up, yawning and rubbing his scar. He could still feel it prickling, even though he now realized it had all been a dream. "I had the dream again," he mumbled, groping around the desk he was sitting at for his glasses.  
  
Once he had them on, he could focus on Ginny, who was crouching beside him with a worried look in her eyes. "Do you think we should go to Dumbledore?" she asked, biting her lip, "I mean, you've been having this dream everyday. Maybe it's time for us to ... y'know, ask for help."  
  
"I'm fine," Harry snapped, perhaps a bit too sharply. "I er ... need to go outside for a bit." Without another word, he stood up and stalked out the door, heading for their backyard.  
  
After The War, Harry and Ginny had moved to a small apartment in London, hoping to keep a low profile. However, the media had followed them into their new residence and were constantly trying to charm hidden cameras or mics into their home. Luckily for the couple, Ginny was good at charms, and had cast shield charms protecting every inch of their outside walls from outside intruders.  
  
Now, Harry wandered out to the back of their apartment, careful to use his invisibility cloak to hide himself from prying eyes. Even 10 months after The War, he still had dreams of it and could still feel the aftereffects. Shuddering, he remembered all the lives that had been lost, all the tears that had been shed. Hardest of all for him was the loss of his two best friends - Ron Weasley, Ginny's loveable older brother, and Hermione Granger, who had been the brightest witch to ever graduate from Hogwarts. Because of Voldemort, they were both dead.  
  
Harry groaned, screwing his eyes shut and willing the tears that were beginning to form to go away. _Be glad that you saved the rest of the wizarding world_, a tiny voice inside of his head urged. _But I wasn't strong or brave enough to save my friends,_ another part of him argued back.  
  
Before he could continue silently arguing with himself, he heard the back door open and saw Ginny step out.  
  
"Harry?" she called out, looking around. Harry shrunk away underneath his invisibility cloak. "I know you're out there," she said, putting her hands on her hips in a very Mrs Weasley-ish way. "Come out. You can't hide out here forever."  
  
Sighing his defeat, Harry pulled the cloak off and shuffled over to where Ginny stood. Her eyes softened when she saw him and how miserable he looked. Reaching up, Ginny wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and rested her head on his shoulder. "It'll be fine," she murmured, "After what you've gone through, it's no wonder you're still aching. Now lets go visit Dumbledore. No -" she cut off as she saw Harry open his mouth, ready to argue, "- not for your dreams; he just sent us an owl and asked us to go pay him a visit. Though I really think we should talk to him about the dreams," she added on second thought.  
  
Harry opened his mouth to reply, but was once again cut off - this time, by a flash. He whipped around to catch sight of a young witch's robes whipping around the corner. "Oi, you little punk!" he growled, pulling out his wand.  
  
Ginny quickly grabbed his arm and lowered his wand to the ground. "Harry, go sit down," she said in a soothing voice.  
  
It was more of a command than a request, so Harry grudgingly obliged and went inside, mumbling incoherently the entire time.  
  
Once inside, Ginny began to cook breakfast for them. "You know, you really should learn to keep your temper under control," she said matter-of-factly as she charmed a fork to beat eggs.  
  
"That's what I have you for," he muttered as he stared at the table angrily, head in his hands.  
  
Ginny tsk tsked and went back to cooking. Harry watched her move around the kitchen with mixed feelings. In the time that had passed after The War, there was one thing that had not been discussed between Harry and Ginny - and that was the kiss they had shared on that one fateful night. Maybe it was because it was too awkward of a situation, or because neither of them was sure if it had been for real. Whatever it was, it had been gnawing at Harry's insides since the two of them had moved in together.  
  
One part of him loved her like a sister, because that's what she had been like to him throughout his 7 years at Hogwarts - a younger sister. But after the kiss, another part had emerged inside of him that was telling him that maybe it was time to see her as something more. After all, she had grown into a beautiful young lady, with long straight hair as red as the early autumn leaves, and warm brown eyes that were like two pools of melted chocolate. She was gorgeous, there was no denying it. As he thought of these things, Harry felt a quivering in his gut and blushed as he realized what was happening.  
  
Before he could dwell on his thoughts any longer, Ginny walked up to him and placed a plate piled high with food in front of him. "Eat up, you will need all your energy if we're going to go to Diagon Alley."  
  
Hours later, Ginny and Harry were bundled up in wintercoats and making their way through the crowds of busy Christmas shoppers. Ginny clutched onto Harry's sleeve tightly as he weaved around frantic mothers and grumbling grandmothers, muttering "Excuse me!" every few seconds  
  
Finally, they arrived at the front of an old-looking store with dirty windows and crumbling brick walls. Peeling letters above the main window read "Godric's Groceries." Ignoring the rush of shoppers, Harry and Ginny made their way over to the doorway of the shop. Muttering "_Invado_," Harry prodded the door with his wand, pulling Ginny through with him when it began to shimmer different colors.  
  
"Makes me miss The Leaky Cauldron," Ginny said sadly as she looked around at the grungy interior of the store.  
  
"Yeah," Harry replied distractedly. He was walking around, feeling the walls for any bumps or grooves.  
  
"Uh Harry? What are you-"  
  
Ginny was cut off midsentence when Harry exclaimed "Aha!" and stood back as the bricks in the far wall of the store rearranged themselves, clunking as they did so. Finally, the movement stopped, and the pair was rewarded with a ray of sunshine which silently welcomed them to Diagon Alley. 


	3. Chapter 2

A/N: Okay well since I forgot to add my author's notes to my first two chapters...and I'm too lazy to go back and add them...I'll say all the stuff I gotta say here. First of all, I changed the title of my story . I know it's stupid, but titles are the worst things ever, and since this fic wasn't pre-written out, I had no idea where this story was going. Now I think I have a few ideas, so I'll leave it at this for the moment...heh. Anyway, thanks a kazillion to my wonderful beta reader, Vivian...you rock my world. Also, I won't be updating this fic very often because I'm a very bad writer slaps self "bad author, bad!" and I only get ideas for my fics every, like, month . Alright then, onto the chapter!

Harry held out his arm and Ginny took it as the two of them stepped out of the grungy shop and onto the well-swept streets of Diagon Alley. As they did, the opening in the brick wall shuffled back into place, showing no signs of having just provided a doorway into the wizarding world.

Unlike the busy sidewalks of London, the shoppers on the streets of Diagon Alley were all chatting happily and strolling along casually. Harry wanted to stop and look at the broomsticks in Knoll's Quidditch Shop, but Ginny grabbed his arm and towed him away from the store, reminding him that they had a very important wizard to meet. Grumbling, Harry followed his friend down the twisting stone road, finally stopping in front of a busy looking pub. A sign that read "The Red Dragon" swung slightly in the breeze above the door. 

"Here?" Harry asked with a look of surprise on his face. 

"Yeah, Dumbledore said something about him being downstairs in the basement or something..." Ginny said distractedly as she peered through the grimy windows. 

The two of them stepped into the pub and made their way through the noisy crowd of witches and wizards to a wooden door at the back of the shop. Looking around, Ginny tugged on the rusted handle of the door, and it creaked open. 

With Ginny leading the way, they cautiously climbed down the rotting wooden staircase, careful to avoid spots that looked particularily unstable. Upon reaching the hard-packed earthen floor, Harry looked around curiously. Finally, he spotted Dumbledore - the tall wizard was sitting on a box surrounded by other dust-covered boxes of various sizes. He was stroking his long white beard, obviously waiting for them. 

"Ah, you have arrived!" Dumbledore said, standing up and giving the two a tired smile. It seemed to Harry like the Hogwarts headmaster had aged much more than 10 months since the last time they had come face to face. "Come, sit down." Waving his wand, he conjured up two stools in front of him. 

Once the three of them had settled (as comfortably as possible) on their seats, Dumbledore's expression grew serious. 

"I suppose Miss Weasley has told you the reason why I have asked you two to come here today, Harry?" 

"Er...actually, no," Harry admitted. 

The older wizard gave Ginny a curious look, but appeared to let it go. "Then I shall start from the beginning. As you are aware, 10 months have passed since The War. During this time, a few things have been haunting me - the memories of the loved ones we lost. I am correct to assume you two have been having the same thoughts?" 

Harry and Ginny both nodded somberly. 

"It has come to my attention that there is a way to travel back to the past and bring the dead back to life, and back to the present." 

Harry gaped at his former professor. "You mean like the timeturn-" 

Dumbledore held up a long finger, signaling Harry to hold his comments. 

"Now, listen carefully to what I have to say. This is a very dangerous thing, anything and everything could go wrong. The ministry imust not know about this/i, or they'll use the same method to bring back more of the dead, and in the confusion, someone we don't want resurrected could return. I am choosing the two people I think are most able to complete this mission. That is the reason why I have brought you two here today - to ask if you're willing to risk your lives for your deceased loved ones." 

Looking to his side, Harry saw Ginny nod. 

"I'm willing to do it, Professor Dumbledore. I'm willing to give it all to save them." 

Harry then felt both Ginny's and Dumbledore's gazes fall on him. He bowed his head, not sure what to say. If he failed, he knew that he would feel even worse...he really wanted to do it though, and perhaps save those he had lost...if Hermione were here, she would be scolding him about his "saving people thing"...but then, the thought of Hermione was too painful...yet if he could do this.... 

"I am too," Harry said fiercely with a steely look of determination in his green eyes. 

Dumbledore smiled inwardly; secretly, he knew that both of them would agree. That was why he had chosen Harry and Ginny, two of his bravest and cleverest students ever. 

He nodded slightly at the two, then pulled out a small box. He opened it and pulled out two simple silver rings. The only decoration on them was that one had a circle engraved into it, and the other had a circle of the same size extruding from it. Handing one to Ginny and the other to Harry, Dumbledore continued. 

"Now, this is what you will do. Each of you must put on your ring, and I will bring you to the field where The War was fought. You must hold your hands together so that the protruding circle fits into the engraved one. Then, say this incantation: 

_Bring us back to the days long past  
__Let us again see our friends at last  
__Standing where our blood was shed  
__10 months back as we have said_

After you have been brought back, you will be in the middle of the war. Once you are back in time, your physical appearance will change so that no one will recognize you. The difference between the rings and the time turner is that for the rings, you will only be seen by those you want to be seen by. Each of you may only bring back two people, so choose wisely." 

The two younger wizards both nodded, signaling that they understood Dumbledore's words. 

"Oh yes, one more thing," Dumbledore said. "You _must not_ attempt to take back more than 4 people, and you must find your friends and convince them to go back with you within one hour. If you go past that time limit..." He paused, looking grave. "Well, try not to do that. I trust you two to get the job done." 

With that, Albus Dumbledore waved his wand and disappeared in a shower of scarlet sparks, leaving his two very shocked and nervous former students to gape in disbelief at each other. 

A/N: Review review review review review review!! Has that been burned into your head enough? Good! x)


End file.
